


THOTGORO

by basediwaizumi



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, M/M, MY P5 PROTAG WAS NAMED THOT AND THAT'S THE JOKE, don't take this seriously, idk this takes place at some nebulous post-canon time where everybody is Happy, the ryukita is minor but still there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 09:37:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14258142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/basediwaizumi/pseuds/basediwaizumi
Summary: The Protagonist gets knuckle tattoos. Goro is not amused.





	THOTGORO

**Author's Note:**

> P5 PROTAGONIST'S NAME IS THOT IN THIS. HE IS NOT AN OC. THIS IS AKIRA KURUSU BUT HIS NAME IS THOT. JUST ROLL WITH IT.
> 
> this was born out of the fact that i named my p5 protag Thot and have never called him anything else (akiren Whomst?), combined with a convo i had with a friend about THOTGORO being something that fits on your knuckles as tattoos. and yusuke is a tattoo artist for some reason. also i know nothing about tattoos whether it be getting one or being a tattoo artist so i'm sorry if stuff ended up being wildly inaccurate.
> 
> anyways i'm sorry this entire thing is just an inside joke, enjoy this crack taken seriously!

“Honey, I’m home!”

Thot walked into the room with even more fanfare and spring to his step than usual. Goro was immediately suspicious.

“...What.” Goro fixed him a look that conveyed a sense of ‘You better tell me what bullshit you’re on right now’.

“Aww, I don’t even get a ‘welcome home’? Disappointing.” He put his bag down, letting Morgana scamper out, sparing Goro a greeting along with an equally exasperated ‘Wait till you hear THIS bullshit’ look on his cat-face before running off. Thot leaned in to at least claim a welcome home kiss, which was also denied from him.

“What did you do.” It was more of an accusation than a question.

A Joker-esque smirk appeared on Thot’s face. “Weeeell, first of all, I think you’re gonna like this. Second of all, I probably should’ve cleared it with you first but I thought, ‘Fuck it, I’m an independent man, nobody can stop me’. Third of all, I—“

At this point, Goro was viscerally shaking. “Please, Thot, I can’t stand this suspense. I need to know what you _did_.”

Finally, Thot thrust his hands in front of Goro so quickly he thought he was about to be decked. He didn’t even realize Thot had been hiding his hands from him this entire time, and after recoiling from the shock, Goro finally saw the black ink on his knuckles.

“So, I’ve had this idea for a while and I paid a visit to Yusuke this morning for an appointment. What do you think?”

On Thot’s right hand knuckles were letters spelling ‘THOT’, and on his left was his own given name. When Thot fisted his hands and held them together, they spelled ‘THOTGORO’. Goro really had to process this information.

“What,” Goro said again.

“They’re knuckle tattoos! It’s a sign of love! Like, every time I show anyone my hands now, they’ll know exactly what I’m about. You know, ThotGoro forever.”

It was just about the stupidest thing Goro had ever heard.

“So, I was _also_ thinking… You should get some, too. To match.”

Goro corrected himself in his head. _That_ was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. He took a deep breath to calm down, and fixed Thot with a disapproving look. “...Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to get someone else’s name as a tattoo?”

“Yeah, but I love you so I wasn’t thinking straight.”

Thot was going to be the death of him. He loved him, too, but this was how Goro was going to die, by having to deal with this constant bullshit.

“...Fine. I’ll get myself some… ‘knuckle tattoos’.”

“Wait, really? Huh, I didn’t think you’d agree so easily.” He threw his arms around Goro in gratitude and affection.

 _Just you wait_ , Goro thought, an idea already fully formed in his mind. He reciprocated the hug, murmuring, “It _is_ a sign of love after all…”

Thot was none the wiser to the mischievous smile on Goro’s face at that moment.

* * *

A tattoo artist job wasn’t something Yusuke had ever envisioned himself doing. Tattoos were taboo, hidden away under sleeves of the Yakuza, a symbol in Japan of the underground. Truth be told, it wasn’t Yusuke’s favorite aesthetic, especially not after the events of Shido’s Palace. 

But, he supposed there was beauty to tattooery as well. In the span of his part-time apprenticeship, Yusuke had seen clients of all kinds, asking for words, caricatures, flowers carefully chosen for their color and species, all to be brushed onto their skin in a deliberate choice to make their own bodies a work of art. After all, it was but another form of art, and who was Yusuke to deny himself a chance to broaden his horizons?

Plus, he had learned that art for the sake of putting some money in his pockets wasn’t always a horrible thing. As Ryuji would put it, “You gotta actually _eat_ sometimes, bro.”

It was a slow day in the parlor when Ryuji came in to keep him company.

“...like I said, Ann was being a useless lesbian again and _conveniently_ forgot all of her money and I had to pay for, like, the entire meal. Which was all desserts. Shit’s making my wallet cry, dude.”

“Is that a problem? You always pay for my meals.”

“Yeah, but that’s because I… you know… love you and stuff.”

“How sweet. I am in your debt, Ryuji.”

“C’mon, you know you don’t gotta say stuff like—“

“Sorry to interrupt, but…”

The two, lost in their conversation, hadn’t even heard the jingle of the shop’s bell signalling Goro’s entrance.

Ryuji jumped at seeing him so suddenly, jumped away from how close he’d been leaning towards Yusuke, and took a second to compose himself.

“O-Oh, haha, wassup, Akechi?”

“Hello, Goro,” Yusuke said, unfazed. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you. You two seem to be having a fun time,” he teased, seeming to revel in the pink creeping up on Ryuji’s cheeks.

“Man, shaddup. Can’t a guy be sweet on his homie in peace?”

“I suppose. But pleasantries aside, I’d like to ask for your services, Yusuke,” he said, pulling up a chair to sit beside the two.

Yusuke’s eyes widened at that. Now _this_ was surprising—Goro didn’t strike him as the type to want a tattoo.

Goro went on, “I already have a design in mind, and I have a feeling it should be simple with your level of skill.” He held out both of his ungloved hands, fisted and posed in front of himself as if he were about to reel them back and punch someone. “I believe they call them knuckle tattoos? I’d like letters along the knuckles of my right hand that say ‘GORO’, and on my left, I’d like letters that say ‘BOYE’. Oh, to clarify, that would be ‘boy’ but with a letter ‘E’ at the end.” He lowered his hands back down, looking at Yusuke right in the eyes. “Would that be feasible?”

Goro explained it all with the straightest of faces, almost comical in how serious he was. It wasn’t the strangest or most complex thing that he’d ever had to tattoo, Yusuke thought. But another thought, or rather a Thot, came to mind at the request.

“What a coincidence, Thot came in the other day and commissioned from me as well. In fact… He received similar tattoos, one of them also being your name. ‘THOTGORO’ in its entirety, if I remember correctly.”

“Huh? What, ain’t you gonna get the same thing then? Like, some matching couple bullshit,” Ryuji said with confusion. 

“Oh no, I know exactly what I’m doing. ‘GORO’ on one hand, and ‘BOYE’ on the other.” He repeated it with such a sense of determination and with such raw power that Yusuke almost physically shook. 

Ryuji looked on with a mix of realization, exasperation, and amusement upon hearing this. ” _Dude_ , that’s cold. I gotta warn you though, Thot has a humiliation kink, so go off, but beware.” Meanwhile, Yusuke cocked his head with a questioning look still in his eyes.

“Thank you, I’m well aware of that. Now, Yusuke, if you would be so kind as to do me the honor.”

As he held his hands back out, Goro had a smile on his face, one Yusuke hadn’t seen since they were teenagers. It didn’t quite reach his eyes, a certain malice coming through in the way his teeth didn’t show, as if he was daring Yusuke to deny his request. His Pleasant Boy, Ace Detective Prince smile. Yusuke felt a shiver run down his spine.  

But, well. Whatever this was, it was none of his business, he supposed.

With a shrug, Yusuke started on this soon-to-be masterpiece. 

* * *

 “You got the knuckle tattoos.”

“Yes.”

“...But you didn’t get THOTGORO.”

“That is correct.”

“You got GOROBOYE.”

“Your observations are astute, Thot. Even after all of these years, conversations with you remain as intellectually stimulating as they’ve always been.”

“...Yeah.”

“To paraphrase Hegel, advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis. THOTGORO and GOROBOYE, if you would.”

“Yeah…” Thot was sulking now. In actuality, Goro felt bad. He really did. Sighing, he reassured Thot, “Hey… I apologize. This joke seems to have been in bad taste. I know you wanted to match. I love you either way, I hope you realize.” He cradled Thot’s cheek with his newly ‘BOYE’-tattooed hand for good measure.

Thot perked up just a little at that. “I mean… I kinda deserved it, I guess. This entire tattoo thing was too spur of the moment. I really should have asked you first. Sorry.”

“No worries. I’d like to put this behind us, if we could. Though, these _are_ permanent, so I suppose that’s easier said than done…”

“Heh, you’re right… Can’t believe you’d pull the Hegel line on me again, by the way. You know that gets me.”

“Well, I was trying to build a compelling argument, after all.”

“Pfft, nerd.” Thot playfully shoved Goro. “You’re lucky I have that humiliation kink of mine or else I’d be way more angry at you.”

Goro chuckled, “I knew you’d end up liking it in the end.”

“You guys are idiots,” Morgana said, looking on with absolute disgust.

Goro laughed as Thot scooped Morgana up by the cat-armpits, bringing him up to his face to glare at him while Morgana fruitlessly batted at his face with his paw pads, Thot’s proud THOTGORO hands on display for all to see.

**Author's Note:**

> let this be my one and only mark on the persona 5 fandom
> 
> thanks to julia for coming up with this blessed AU and for being the first to read this abomination, to fin for encouraging me to write this extended shitpost, and for jack for the continued ryukita bullshit. i love you all <3


End file.
